BAIC, Magna plan to form new JV to build premium intelligent electric vehicles

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- BAIC BJEV and Canada auto parts supplier Magna signed a cooperation agreement on June 18 in Nanjing, saying that both parties plan to establish two new joint ventures to build open and sharing R&D and manufacturing centers of intelligent premium electric vehicles.

According to the agreement, both parties will jointly set up joint ventures to conduct R&D on premium and intelligent electric vehicle sharing platform, customize vehicles based on customers' demands, and provide engineering services of new energy vehicles (NEV). In the meantime, both parties negotiated to carry out intelligent transformation and upgrading on the existing BAIC manufacturing facility in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province to manufacture high-end intelligent electric vehicles. Moreover, models from ARCFOX, BAIC BJEV's high-end vehicle brand, will be manufactured first in the plant.

Xu Heyi said that the establishment of the JVs will not only benefit both Magna and BAIC BJEV, but also will further strengthen the manufacturing ability and R&D technologies in NEV industry as well as the development of NEVs across both China and the world. He also added that based on an open and sharing platform, both parties will jointly develop and manufacture premium smart electric vehicles, bringing the clean energy vehicle industry to the next level.

In April, 2018, BAIC Group and Magna announced that they would jointly develop a next-generation smart electric vehicle architecture for the Chinese market. Both joint ventures are subject to a number of conditions including agreement on final joint venture agreements and obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals.